


Capax Infiniti

by TwilightKnight17



Series: How to Kill a God [8]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Confrontations, Domestic, Gen, Gun?, Happy Day of Fates, Promises, now let's shoot God!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29187183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: An oath sworn, now fulfilled.Promises made, now kept.And a new promise, for after the false world ends, and the real one begins.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira
Series: How to Kill a God [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967740
Comments: 25
Kudos: 76





	Capax Infiniti

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to have this done sooner, but if it took me this long, at least I managed to have it posted for the Day of Fates!
> 
> **Fiat justitia ruat caelum.**  
> 

For the first time in months, mornings were actually peaceful.

It had taken them a few days to relax into a routine, and a few more after that to try venturing out of the apartment. But eventually Akira demanded that they go grocery shopping so he could cook, and they had learned that Maruki was apparently _not_ waiting to smite them the moment they set foot outside their makeshift safe room.

When they weren’t cooking, Goro and Lavenza were putting Akira through a mishmash of physical therapy. He hadn’t been wasting away while he was sleeping, but he had lost a bit of his flexibility and endurance. So they stretched, and exercised with the equipment Goro kept in his spare room, and bantered back and forth about who was in better shape before the six-month gap in their thievery. 

This, logically, led to push-up contests. To make it fair, Goro did them with Lavenza sitting on his back.

He still won. But Akira was catching up quickly. Once he had about a week’s worth of proper sleep and meals in him, he improved in leaps and bounds as his body remembered what it was supposed to be doing. They eventually took training trips to Mementos to make sure Akira’s stamina was recovering properly, and to show Jose that everyone was doing fine.

And Goro woke up each morning to the sight of Akira curled on the opposite side of the bed, playing games on his phone or burrowing into his pillow in search of more warmth. It was such a dangerous thing, something he couldn’t let himself get used to. This world was going to end, and there was no mercy in the true reality. But that didn’t make it any easier to insist that they have conversations at the table, or in the living room, instead of drinking coffee in bed.

“So now that I’m… _mostly_ better, did you have an actual plan for… achieving your goal?” 

Akira had been very careful never to directly name Goro’s intentions, even though he still didn’t intend to stop him. He’d made that very clear, when Goro had asked again, unsure if an agreement given in the earliest hours of the morning was a real one.

Goro glanced over at Akira, who had left his coffee on the nightstand in favor of rolling onto his stomach and watching Goro with lazy storm-cloud eyes, and shook his head. “Not… particularly. I had an overall plan of disrupting this reality enough to weaken Maruki’s control, so that he couldn’t undo my shot like he did the first time.” He sighed. “But when he took you… I had to change my plans. Getting you back was my primary focus, and then making sure you were well again. Now I’m back where I started, with little recourse other than to continue to cause disruption… I don’t even know if that will work, but for now, it’s the best I can do. I hope you weren’t expecting another dramatic plan like the car chase.”

“No, no,” Akira said with a slight laugh, only half his smile visible as he nestled further into the pillow. He looked remarkably comfortable in an extra pair of Goro’s pajamas. “I do wish I’d gotten to see the first half of the car chase, though.” But then his expression slipped to something more serious, and he said, “I’ve been thinking about it. Everything. Being… put to sleep. Everything Maruki said. Everything Lavenza told us. I have an idea, but…”

“What kind of idea?” Goro prodded. “If you’ve got something, we can work out the details and finally get this bastard.”

To his surprise, Akira sat up, facing away from him. “I don’t know if it will work,” he murmured. “It’s a little more abstract than ‘find god and shoot it’.”

Goro thought of Akira’s description of Yaldabaoth, a hole through its head. “It can’t be any worse than setting random buildings on fire and hoping Maruki gets tired,” he pointed out.

Akira made a noise that might have been a laugh. In a quiet voice, he began to explain his thoughts, and partway through, Goro realized he was shaking. Without really thinking about it, he set his own mug aside and scooted against Akira’s back so he could wrap an arm around him. They’d figured out almost right away that physical contact helped ground Akira, assuring him that he was in the real world. Apparently the cognitive Goro had never touched him. Not even a handshake.

“...I don’t want to be him,” Akira admitted. “The idea of it scares me to death.”

Goro snorted. “I don’t think we have to worry about that,” he said. “You’re not anything like him.”

“I am, though.” Akira pulled his knees to his chest. “You made fun of me for it often enough. Me and my brainless sentimentality. I want to help people.”

“You have morals. And you’re not a manipulator, a dictator, or a child groomer.”

“...Goro.”

“What else do you call a man who tries to talk a teenager into doing what he wants, and then punishes him when he refuses?”

Akira sighed heavily. “I’m just anxious.”

Goro leaned his forehead against the nape of Akira’s neck. “Where are we going to do this? He has too much influence in the Palace. And I know this is the ‘safe room’ right now, but I don’t want him here.”

“Iweleth,” Akira murmured. “That’s where all of this started. That’s where we’re going to end it.”

“...fitting,” Goro replied. He squeezed Akira, then stood up and stretched. “All right, get up. If we’re confronting him, I want to take one day to relax before this is all over. We’ve been training for almost a month; I deserve a reward for getting you back to normal.”

Akira didn’t move for a long moment. “Goro?” he asked, very quietly.

Goro hesitated. “What is it, Akira?”

Akira looked up at him, something fragile behind his silvered eyes. “You’re sure that you’ll still be there? After everything?”

He’d explained the day after Akira’s rescue that Maruki had lied, that he was alive and well in their true reality. Somehow. There was no reason for Akira to worry about him anymore. But he knew that Akira’s emotions about everything were still raw, so instead of making a quip, he just said calmly, “I promise you. And I don’t break my promises, do I? Regardless of where I end up, I will make sure to contact you, as soon as I can.”

Akira smiled tentatively. “...thank you.”

“...of course.”

He walked over to the door, stopping on the threshold and glancing back at Akira. “The world resets tomorrow,” he said, with a smile like a razor. “What do you want to wreck today?”

It turned out that the answer was ‘their bank accounts’. Extravagant food, expensive accessories, a rental motorcycle… Goro had never bothered to mention that he had his motorcycle license, and now it was working out in his favor, because Akira’s excited face was completely worth it. They sped through Tokyo, weaving in and out of traffic, decked out in diamonds and high-end leather jackets. They rode all the way to Destinyland and spent extra on the passes that allowed them to jump the lines. Goro handed over a stack of yen to a hostess at the Skytree restaurant to secure them a table, and they had dinner watching the city glowing far below.

They slept heavily after spending the day indulging, but when Goro woke up the next morning, he found Akira sitting up, writing something on a notepad. He didn’t move, just observing quietly. 

When Akira was done he tore off the sheet, folded it up and left it on the nightstand, and settled back into bed with a sigh. Goro gave him a few minutes, then pretended to stir, rolling over and blinking at him. “Already awake? You don’t usually wake up first…”

“Couldn’t fall back asleep,” Akira offered nonchalantly. He rolled over to face Goro, too. “Today’s the day, right?”

“Yes. Today, we end this.”

When they went into the kitchen, they found Lavenza sitting at the kitchen table, kicking her feet and examining Goro’s collection of takeout menus. Akira walked over and patted her head. “Hey. Where were you yesterday?”

Lavenza looked up at him, beaming. “The two of you needed a day to yourselves,” she said. “And now I am simply here to wish you luck. Your intention is to take back your true reality, and I believe the two of you are more than capable.”

“You’re using up your energy to come here just to tell us that?” Goro scoffed, but he was grinning.

“Well…” Lavenza glanced down at the menus. “I was also wondering what ‘french toast’ is…”

“There it is,” Goro teased. “Little foodie. Maybe you can take over my food blog one day.”

Akira raised his hand. “I actually know how to make french toast,” he said. “I can make some for everyone. It only takes a few ingredients.”

Goro ended up watching from the kitchen table as Akira prepared breakfast, Lavenza standing on a stool at his side. Yes, she nearly flipped a toast into his ceiling trying to imitate Akira’s deft frying pan skills, but it was… cute, seeing them cooking together. In his kitchen.

He shook his head to clear that thought. Getting distracted now did no one any favors. There were goals to accomplish. So he enjoyed breakfast, and then Lavenza walked them to the door, taking their hands.

“Trickster, Knight…” she said softly. “I have absolute faith in the two of you, especially together. But still… Please be careful.”

“We always are,” Akira said. 

Goro resisted the urge to correct him, since he was the one who had staged a wild car chase through a hostile Palace with no backup but two children. Instead, he just squeezed Lavenza’s hand. “Thank you for everything,” he said. “Truly. I’m certain I would have gone mad long before now if you hadn’t been there.”

“You are my guest,” Lavenza said gently. “I always want to help you to the best of my abilities.”

“I should thank you, too,” Akira said. “You’ve seriously done more than we ever could have asked for. So thank you.”

Lavenza managed to maintain her professionalism for almost five more seconds before throwing herself forward to hug them both. They returned it without hesitation, holding her tightly.

And then, after a short walk to the train station, Akira activated the nav to take them down.

Once they jumped to Iweleth, Goro looked around the abandoned Grail hall curiously. The massive cameras were still there, and as he watched, they slowly shifted to observe the two Thieves that had dared to return to the heart of Mementos.

“So now what?” Goro asked. “Do we just hope he shows up?”

Akira shook his head and stepped forward to face the camera. “Doctor Maruki? We need to talk.”

There was no particular indication that anything had heard him. One moment, they were alone in the room, and the next, Goro turned around and saw Maruki standing near the escalators that led to Da’at. It took every scrap of his self-control not to just pull out his gun immediately. But as far as he knew, that still wouldn’t work, and he’d promised Akira to wait. Akira deserved to ask his questions.

“Kurusu-kun,” Maruki said with a soft smile. “The circumstances weren’t ideal, but I’m glad to see you awake and healthy.”

Akira looked down, to where the names of the Deadly Sins were etched into the floor. Goro watched him take a deep breath, and then he looked up and said, “Can I really believe that you’re glad, when you’re the one who did that to me in the first place?”

Maruki walked around the mess of cables in the center of the room, closer to where they were standing. “You were suffering. I wanted to give you time to come to terms with everything.”

“...well, I certainly had plenty of time,” Akira murmured. “I don’t think it was entirely altruism, though. After all, there’s a reason why you wanted me to be the one to choose. But… I don’t know. Putting me to sleep feels like the least of this. After all, Shido and Yaldabaoth tried to get me out of their way, too. That’s what people with power do, I think, when you become inconvenient. Most of the time.”

Goro frowned a little. Until Akira had explained his thoughts, he hadn’t considered _why_ Maruki had left the final choice up to Akira. Now, though, it made perfect sense. And he could tell that it had struck a nerve, because Maruki looked like he had months ago, when Goro had also compared him to Shido.

“I just wanted your happiness, Kurusu-kun,” Maruki said, a hint of tension in his voice. “I am nothing like Shido, or the god that used to reside here.”

“You didn’t try to kill me, at least,” Akira agreed. “I’m not really worried about me right now, though. Like I said, that feels like the least of this. But there is someone who is unhappy in your reality, and you didn’t grant him any kind of relief from it.”

Maruki’s eyes flickered to Goro for just a second, but Goro didn’t react. This was Akira’s time, to sort out the last few things he needed to. He wasn’t going to interfere.

Akira nodded. “Why did you make a fake version of me?” he asked. His voice was neutral. No condemnation, but no space for empathy, either.

“Because I believed that if Akechi-kun could see his potential happiness, he might gradually grow to accept my reality,” Maruki said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If he could understand that I just wanted to help people, and he could accept my world as a positive change, then I knew you would, too.”

“And we all know that me accepting your reality was very important,” Akira said, still neutral.

“Of course! You deserve happiness more than anyone.”

Finally, Akira scowled. “Then why have you done everything you could to make me unhappy?”

That seemed to catch Maruki off-guard. Goro was pleased to hear the stammer in his voice when he said, “Wh-What do you mean?”

In contrast to before, Akira’s voice was bitter when he spat, “You knew my circumstances. You knew what I’d been through, what all of my friends had been through, being used and threatened and abandoned by adults. And yet all you’ve done is use Goro and me, right from the very beginning. You’re not any different! You used me for information from the moment you met me, so that you could do _this_. You used us as bargaining chips against each other, trying to control us. You knew Goro hated this reality, and yet you paraded some twisted version of me around in front of him, like a punishment for not taking the deal so he could have the real thing! Why would you ever think that would get us on your side?”

“Kurusu-kun…” Maruki began, but Akira talked over him.

“How many people have you warped to fit your ideas of what happiness should be?” he demanded. “How many people’s choices did you take away, the way you did mine? I wanted to believe you had good intentions, just bad methods, but then you locked me inside my own head instead of letting me answer.”

“Nevermind that the choice shouldn’t have been laid on you in the first place,” Goro huffed.

Akira barked a sharp laugh. “Yeah. Tell me about it. Asking me to choose between letting him rule the world, and the life of the person I care about most.”

Maruki shook his head, holding up his hands. “That’s not what it was about. I just wanted you to have all the information, so that you would understand that you could choose happiness!”

“That’s not happiness!” Akira shouted. “I faltered, because you tried to hit me where it hurt, but Goro was right. Living under someone else’s control isn’t happiness. You wanted me to pick Goro over my freedom; you wanted me to betray everything I spent a year fighting for! You and Yaldabaoth are just two versions of the same bullshit, and I’m done.”

Goro stepped forward and laid a clawed hand on Akira’s shoulder, feeling how he was trembling slightly despite his unwavering posture. Akira glanced over at him, and he smirked beneath his mask. He’d been right, huh? Bold of Akira to admit it in front of a witness. Akira seemed to know what he was thinking, if the matching smirk that appeared on his face was any indication.

“W-Wait just a moment,” Maruki said, obviously flustered, but still trying to stay polite. “Kurusu-kun, I understand that you’re upset, but at this point, nothing more can be done. My reality is the true one.”

“That’s a lie.” Akira reached up and took off his mask. “You could fix it, if you wanted. You just won’t. You won’t give up your power.”

“...no, I won’t.” Maruki’s expression hardened. “I was given this power to make the world better. I had hoped that you would agree with me in the end, but I refuse to send the world back to a painful reality just because you two can’t understand all the good that I’m doing. If that means we have to fight, so be it. I refuse to give up.”

Akira tilted his head. “Do you regret any of this?”

Maruki frowned. “...no. I’m sorry for causing you pain, because that was not my intention. But I don’t regret my actions.”

Akira looked back at the floor. “...that’s all I needed to hear.”

He examined his mask for a moment before crushing it into blue fire. “Satanael. Come.”

Goro’s eyes widened. Akira had described everything that occurred on Christmas Eve, including the massive demonic persona that had manifested to kill the God of Control. The persona that appeared wasn’t the size of a skyscraper, but it was no less intimidating, hovering behind Akira with six massive wings. Maruki stared, and Goro wondered if he had any concept of how strong Akira was. How strong Akira could be.

Akira reached up, and Satanael set its triple-barreled gun in his outstretched hand. The metal glinted coldly in the eerie light of the Grail hall, and with a tiny smile, Akira passed it to Goro. “I promised.”

Goro took the gun, a little awed at the sheer power radiating from the weapon. A gun that could kill a god. A gun that had _already_ killed a god. He lifted it to point at Maruki, and the man held up his hands placatingly.

“Akechi-kun, we’ve been through this alrea—”

The clap of a gunshot rang through the hall, and Maruki staggered, looking bewildered. Red began to bloom on the shoulder of his pristine white suit, and he gaped at it in disbelief. “Wh-Wha… How did you…? Why can’t I…?”

Akira’s voice rang loud and clear in the hall.

“I am the heir to the Holy Grail. I am the Lord of Mementos. My team and the public placed their faith in me, and I misplaced that faith. I won’t make that mistake again.” He regarded Maruki without pity. “You manipulated me before. You won’t get another chance.”

“Azatho—” Another bang, and the name was cut off before he could complete it.

Goro smirked. “Not so tough without all that power backing you up.”

“Ku… Kurusu-kun…” A second bloom of red was spreading across the suit from a new hole. “You can’t let him…”

“No one is going to punish you.” Akira watched Maruki press his hands to his stomach, trying to stem the bleeding. “We can’t steal your heart. That ship sailed months ago, thanks to you. The justice system? What are we going to tell them? People don’t go to jail for trying to become a god. So there are really only two options.”

Goro walked towards Maruki, the gun still pointing at him, and said, “Option one: allow you to return to reality as you are, unchanged, and hope that you don’t find a way to do this again in the future. Or option two: treat you the same as the other tyrant god that the Phantom Thieves killed.”

Akira turned away, even as Maruki tried to reach out to him. “I don’t particularly like either option. But I promised I wouldn’t stop him.”

Goro smiled coldly. “I told you that I would find a way to take the world back. It didn’t take the rest of my life. But it took the rest of yours.”

Maruki tried to back up, but almost fell from the pain of his wounds. Goro pointed Satanael’s gun at his forehead, looked away, and fired. He continued to look away as he heard the body hit the ground, and instead he walked back over to Akira, passing him the gun with shaking fingers. Tension that he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying for _months_ drained out of him, and he sagged a bit with relief. “It’s over…”

“Yeah…” Akira said, also not looking back at where Maruki had fallen. 

“Thank you.”

“It’s not what I would have done, but I understand.”

Goro glanced up at Satanael, still hovering with the smallest satisfied smile on its face, and privately thought that Akira was much more vicious at heart than he let on. But it was admirable that he could still be so kind in spite of that. Not that he would ever tell Akira that. At least not right now.

“What do we do now?” he asked, leaning a hand on his hip. “Are you going to fix the world now?”

Akira shook his head, grinning. “No,” he said. “You are.”

“I… What?” Goro froze, not understanding what he was hearing. “But you’re the one in control now.”

“And I am giving it to you.” Akira was still smiling, but his tone was absolutely serious, Joker through and through. “I told you, I don’t want this. I never wanted this. So I’m putting my faith in the one person who I know I can count on. The person who saved me from an impossible nightmare. The person who never gave up on me or our reality. You can fix it, Goro. All of it.”

“Y-You want me to…” This was embarrassing. He sounded like he was going to cry. This wasn’t that stupid fake, promising him that he was the only person that mattered. This was the real Akira, putting absolute trust in him, giving _him_ control over the cognition of the whole world. “Akira…”

“Let’s go home,” Akira said. “To our true reality.” He stepped forward to take Goro’s hands, pressing a folded piece of paper into one of his palms. “Wherever we wake up, you have to come and find me. You promised.”

“I promise.” Goro took a deep breath, before looking inside himself for the power that Akira had supposedly given him. Loki and Robin were beside themselves with excitement, rattling around his heart. And then he found it. Deeper than even his personas.

And it was so _easy_.

Full control over Mementos, reaching out to everyone. He could do… anything. He could drive the whole world mad at once. He could alter events in exactly the ways that he wanted, with a better eye for detail so that they didn’t clash strangely with things that didn’t change. He could see why Maruki had gone half-mad with power, with all of this at his fingertips.

But all Goro wanted was for the world to be right again.

So he squeezed Akira’s hands.

Closed his eyes.

And made a wish.

**Author's Note:**

> There is one more part of this.


End file.
